Bedford

All right, um, coming up on today's program, it is the, uh, Thursday edition.

We've got Joey joining us from Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce.

We also have, uh, Theatre Thursday.

Uh, we've got a group coming in as well.

We're gonna lovingly place those in your ear holes.

Uh, that's all coming up, uh, if you're listening to the live show.

If you're listening to the, uh, podcast, uh, we've got an interview with Joey, uh, from the Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce.

We also have an interview.

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Welcome to Not Just Buildings, where we tell the stories of businesses, organizations, and institutions in the area of Bedford, Virginia, which we do by talking to the real local people working behind the scenes.

This podcast is hosted by the Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce, a membership organization whose mission is to serve as a catalyst for local business success, a convener of regional leadership, and a champion for a vibrant and resilient economy.

Before we get to the interview, I want to share some of the things we have going on at the chamber.

We offer a little bit of everything for everyone, from professional development and regional job fairs to grand opening celebrations, school partnerships, and fun networking events.

So I encourage you to stick around to learn about what's next.

However, if you want to jump ahead to today's interview, no worries.

You can find all of our programming on BedfordAreaChamber.com, and I'll drop our phone number at the very end of this episode, so make sure to listen all the way through.

Unfortunately, in the three decades since Tom's death, the majority of his immediate family members have also passed away, leaving only the people who briefly knew him all those years ago.

I went to the Bedford Museum about a month ago, first thing after it opened, coffee still in hand from a shop down the street.

An older woman with white hair met me almost as soon as I walked in.

I told her I was doing some research and had an odd request.

A former resident, someone who'd only lived in Bedford for three years, decades ago.

I gave her Tom's name.

She led me into a room lined with binders on three walls, each spine labeled with a different family surname.

I told her I doubted Tom would be in any of them, given how briefly he'd actually lived there.

I'm your host, Bryan Schley.

We are live in the Counts Realty and Auction Towers here in beautiful Bedford, Virginia, along with my co-host, Trent Warner.

Hey.

And Emma.

Like, literally within four hours.

Yeah.

And I know we're in Bedford, Lynchburg, it's gonna be a little bit different, but it's amazing to me how much it's changed in the last year, that when I go to make the purchase and it tells me when it's showing up-

Mm-hmm

I'm Brian Sly.

Live in the studio in the Counts Realty and Auction Towers here in beautiful Bedford, Virginia with our co-host, Trent Warner.

And Emma back there creating bumpers.

Hello.

Yep.

Put them in the truck and we headed out.

And before we left Bedford, there was already yelling.

That tends to happen.

You know, I think it's great.

Well, Kate, there's another thread in your work that really stayed with me, and that's your reflections around veterans and the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.

And I read somewhere that you wrote that the definition of a hero is complicated and deeply personal.

Let me ask you how that understanding of heroism changed with you over the years through the people that you have photographed.

right, folks, welcome back to another episode of Life, Liberty, Happiness.

I am your host, Bryan Schley, live in this Count's Realty and Auction Towers here in beautiful Bedford, Virginia.

Uh, Emma is out tonight with a previous engagement.

She is, I think at the, um, chamber of commerce dinner.

Yeah.

I will say, just to go back a little bit, so early voting is now.

So those that are in Lynchburg, Bedford, or a forest in Bedford, it's still the same location, early voting.

It's still the same entrance, but it's a different building across from the Bedford Regional Water Authority.

But I got to thinking, what am I going to talk about, right? Because I'm here by myself, no guests, nobody to bounce ideas off of.

But first and foremost, I want to give a big thank you to everyone who came out to our Bedford Centerfest Festival this past weekend here in beautiful downtown Bedford, Virginia.

We had an amazing time.

Amazing day.

Thousands of people hit the streets of downtown Bedford, and we could not be more thankful, not just for us as an organization who puts the event on, but for our vendors.

We had a couple of vendors that completely sold out before the festival was even over.

I know we had one.

And that says a lot.